If someone injures you, you have the right to file a tort claim against that same individual. The person that injured you committed a wrongful act, one that the legal system refers to as a tort. By filing a tort claim, you can claim the right to seek compensation for damages suffered.
The question of liability
The legal system cannot demand a fine from every person that commits a wrongful act. However, if someone harmed by that same act initiates a lawsuit against that particular person, the legal system recognizes the victim’ right to seek compensation. The victim can declare the offender/defendant to be liable for the damages that resulted from the offender’s actions.
There are 2 kinds of tort
In intentional tort the tort feeser (offender) seeks to cause a particular outcome. The creation of that outcome gets realized by performing a harmful act on the plaintiff/victim.
In unintentional tort the wrongdoer commits a negligent act. If that act is so egregious that it harms the plaintiff, then the wrongdoer can be held responsible for both the losses suffered by the plaintiff and also for any punitive damages.
The size of a settlement
The size of the settlement received by the victim depends on the extent to which the nature of the victim’s injuries has been explained to the person that must decide on the settlement’s size. That specific person could be an adjuster in the offender’s/defendant’s insurance company, or it could be the judge and jury at the trial, the one that followed the victim’s initiation of a lawsuit with the assistance of Personal Injury Lawyers In Trenton.
The victim’s own actions also affect the size of any settlement that might be granted by the court. The victim must file the personal injury claim before the end of the limitation period. Failure to file within that limited amount of time leads to a disappearance of the victim’s right to seek any type of compensation.
In addition, there must be no evidence that the victim contributed to creation of the accident-prone situation. The existence of any such contributory negligence would force a lowering of the amount of money that needs to be granted to the injured victim.
Of course, if a victim were to be attacked, and responded by brandishing a weapon, one that hurt the offender, then that would not qualify as contributory negligence. Instead, it would be viewed as an act of defense. The court system recognizes a victim’s right to utilize the weapons and strategies that qualify as an act of self-defense.
An award in a personal injury case cannot be reduced on the basis of evidence that the plaintiff had engaged in an act of self-defense. That simple rule applies to all types of tort claims.